Steve McQueen is known as the King of Cool. More than an actor, he is an icon and a brand of maverick, with a daring and calm mind. This duplicity gave McQueen a license to be an authority of authenticity in his image and his persona. In a career that spanned nearly three decades, McQueen became the antihero. He took no sides, did not play favorites, and pushed no agendas. McQueen was an original that no one could duplicate. His popularity reached its pinnacle during the counterculture of the 1960s, cementing the Stoic contrarian into the mainstream.


Westerns were McQueen’s bread and butter until his breakout roles in B-movies, dramas, and war films. For example, Frank Sinatra gave McQueen one of his first lucky breaks in Never So Few (1959). After fellow Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. supposedly spoke negatively of Sinatra in a radio interview, Sinatra gave his role to McQueen. His performances became more nuanced with each scenario and genre he starred in. McQueen maintained a silent confidence and coolness through it all, and these films feature him at his coolest.

8 The Reivers (1969)

A definite departure for the man of action, McQueen plays roughneck Boon Hoggenbeck who goes on a joy ride in the McCaslin family’s movie-made, sun-yellow 1905 Winton Flyer. Ned McCaslin (Rupert Crosse) and Lucius McCaslin (Mitch Vogel) join him for a trip through Mississippi up to Memphis in one of America’s first motor cars. McQueen’s portrayal of a hick is amusing, if not remarkable, in this adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by William Faulkner.

7 The Blob (1958)

This was McQueen’s first leading role in a B-movie. The Blob is a gelatinous and carnivorous amoeba-like alien that crashes down to Earth via meteorite and terrorizes and consumes the small towns of Pennsylvania. Most young actors got their start in low-budget productions. Here, McQueen makes playing the canary in the coal mine, or the boy who called blob, believable in this science fiction horror classic.

6 The Hunter (1980)

In his last feature film, McQueen portrays the American bounty hunter Ralph “Papa” Thorson. He tracks down fugitives across the country and always gets his man, but is an unassuming man of culture who enjoys collecting antiques and listening to classical music. The juxtaposition of the obstinate private agent and longing old soul is felt in McQueen’s final role.

5 Papillon (1973)

McQueen plays real-life French convict Henri Charrière. He goes by the nickname Papillon, the French word for “butterfly,” on account of his butterfly tattoo across his chest. Charrière is wrongly convicted of murder and befriends another convict, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) who helps him plot their escape from the French Guiana prison. Dalton Trumbo (of Roman Holiday and Spartacus fame) and Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenwriter of The Parallax View and many episodes of the Batman television series) wrote this adaptation of Charrière’s autobiography and McQueen portrays him as a desperate yet determined man who remained free of mind in the face of injustice.

4 The Sand Pebbles (1966)

The war epic takes place in 1920s maritime China and is based on the Yangtze Patrol naval operation by America’s Navy to procure and protect its seaports. McQueen is naval engineer, Jake Holman, who oversees the seas and his crew. His meticulous attention and his bending of protocols for his friends is bittersweet in this performance. Fun trivia: Mako, the voice of antagonist Aku in the Cartoon Network show, Samurai Jack, plays McQueen’s engine room shipmate.

Related: Steven Spielberg Directs New Film Based on Steve McQueen’s Bullitt

3 Bullitt (1968)

Shot in San Francisco, McQueen wanted an authentic film that went above the usual theatrical release. Instead of fabricated studio sets, the cast, and crew filmed at actual locations in the city. For example, scenes at the hospital used real doctors and nurses over stand-in actors. Bullitt also gave us one of the greatest car chases in film history. McQueen said he wanted “a film about reality” and he clearly lives up to the creative challenge.

Related: The Most Epic Car Chases of All Time

2 The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Cars do not have the idyllic charm of the wild west. One of the greatest Westerns, The Magnificent Seven is a remake of Seven Samurai, in which seven gunslingers are hired to defend a Mexican village from invading banditos. McQueen got to play one of the Seven after staging a car accident, releasing him from his television Western role in Wanted Dead or Alive. Trading cars for guns, McQueen went on to fight like 700 men.

1 The Great Escape (1963)

McQueen is credited for not one but two vehicular achievements in film. Before Bullitt came the motorcycle and chase scene in The Great Escape. Among having one of the best stunts, the film depicts the 1944 mass escape of British prisoners of war from a Nazi Germany POW camp during World War II. McQueen’s Americanized presence may just be for commercial appeal, but he shows us there is no greater escape than the thrill of the chase for the will to ride free.